Choosing to believe: Converts to Judaism keep the faith

Like other Jews, Pattie Weinberg prepares brisket, kugel and
challah for family dinners at Rosh Hashana, but these are skills
she did not learn as a child. She learned them later in life as a
married mother.

Weinberg converted to Judaism from Presbyterianism 20 years ago
-- going from Hardy to a Weinberg, from Christmas cards to holiday
cards, from blue-eyed blond gentile to blue-eyed blond Jew.

The reasons people convert to Judaism are as varied as the
individuals themselves, but many do so because they want to marry a
Jew, and as a couple, they decide to raise their children in that
faith.

"Thinking in terms of a significant other may be the initial
reason they might come to learn more about Judaism," said Rabbi
Jeff Brown of Temple Solel in Encinitas, "but that is just the
beginning of the process. We are working with individuals to find
out if it is tradition that really speaks to them. They are not
just converting to have a Jewish wedding."

The subject of conversion is a matter of heated debate within
the Jewish community. While some see conversion as necessary to
keep their faith alive, others such as Orthodox Jews generally
discourage conversion. In fact, traditional Judaism does not permit
interfaith marriages, as the Torah states (Deuteronomy 7:3-4) that
the children of such marriages would be lost to Judaism.

Much intermarrying

Still, 54 percent of American Jews today marry non-Jews,
according to the latest research by the Union for Reform Judaism,
with only 33 percent of intermarried couples choosing to raise
their children in the Jewish faith despite increasing efforts in
the Reform and Conservative communities to welcome interfaith
couples.

"I didn't wake up one morning and decide to be Jewish," said
Weinberg, a Solana Beach resident. "I started with a
Reconstructionist rabbi and then went to a Conservative rabbi. I
went to conversion classes for almost three years … then I went to
a synagogue in L.A. for a mikvah (ritual bath), which most of my
Jewish girlfriends have never done. That was very emotional."

The procedure for conversion depends on the sponsoring
denomination and hinges on meeting the requirements set by the
congregation's rabbi.

But generally, rabbis are supposed to make vigorous attempts to
dissuade a person who wants to convert to Judaism. Called a ger
tzedek or a ger (stranger), a convert must be certain of his or her
decision and willing to take on new responsibilities.

"The beginning of the conversion process is an educational
component," said Rabbi Brown of Temple Solel, a Reform congregation
in Encinitas. Reform Jews make up the largest group of American
Jews at about 45 percent, according to the National Jewish
Population Survey, with more than 65 percent of them marrying
non-Jews in the last decade.

"They need to make an informed choice so that they start living
a Jewish life," said Brown. "It is a basic Jewish principle that
you cannot believe in another religious belief, so they must know
that they are leaving their religion and come to terms with it … I
try to raise questions for my congregants, and then we talk about
it."